Rom-coms and horror IP were not enough to take down the two biggest movies of the year so far. Retro VHS carnage, first-person spot-the-difference strategery, and exotic locale romance were the new options against the Mario Galaxy and the one Ryan Gosling is hurling himself through to save us, and together the latter two have grossed over a billion dollars in theaters across the globe.
King of the Crop: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Holds Strong to Cross $300 Million Domestic
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie led the way once again this weekend, and though the hold wasn’t quite as impressive as its predecessor, it was hardly terrible either. Back in 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie fell just 36.9% to $92.3 million (the seventh-best second weekend ever at the time and now the 10th) after a $146.3 million weekend opening. That was after $58.2 million made on Wednesday and Thursday. Galaxy made $59.1 million on its pre-weekend weekdays and then opened to $131.7 million. Now in weekend two, it fell 47% but earned another $69 million to bring its 12-day total over $308 million.
That is the 23rd-best 12-day start ever. The first film had the 15th best with $353.1 million. These are all just informational statistics for a film that was already in profit by the end of its first weekend. Last summer’s Lilo & Stitch had a $61.8 million second weekend and is about $16 million behind where Galaxy is. Last year’s Jack Black video game adaptation, A Minecraft Movie, had a $78.5 million second weekend but ended up $1.4 million behind Lilo’s pace; it still ultimately held out to best its domestic run. But these are numbers that could be suggesting a finish in the $440-460 million domestic region for Galaxy. Globally the film has already crossed half a billion and then some with $628 million and will continue to charge forward to hit the whole billion.
Tales of the top 10: Project Hail Mary Continues to Soar, The Drama Isn’t So Divisive
Phil Lord & Christopher Miller’s Project Hail Mary is not going anywhere. Second place again with only a 23% drop in its fourth week added up to $24.5 million. Now with over $256 million, it has the seventh-best 24-day total for a March release ever and is still outpacing Dune: Part Two by about $23 million. That pace all but solidifies making it over $300 million. Among the 18 films to have grossed between $250-260 million in 24 days, there were still eight that didn’t make it. (Every film above $260 million has.) Then again, every film on the list to gross over $17 million in weekend four did. Project Hail Mary has crossed the half-billion mark worldwide with $510 million and still going strong.
Kristoffer Borgli’s divisive film The Drama, with Robert Pattinson and Zendaya, apparently wasn’t that divisive with audiences, as it fell a very respectable 39% in its second weekend and grossed $8.7 million. At $30.8 million, it is 10th on A24’s all-time chart and is their second-highest-grossing film after 10 days. (It would be Marty Supreme without the initial limited launch, but alas.) These numbers are closely aligned with that of Duncan Jones’ sci-fi actioner Source Code with Jake Gyllenhaal, which had an $8.6 million second weekend and a 10-day total of $28.2 million. If people keep the conversation going on this, it is looking at a finish in the $50-55 million range, possibly even a tad higher. Worldwide the $28 million production is over $65 million.
After a string of exotic locale travel rom-coms populated streaming services over the years, one is finally back in theaters. Universal, the only major studio to counterprogram against Super Mario Galaxy this weekend (also put out by Universal, by the way), has released Kat Coiro’s You, Me & Tuscany with Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page into 2,500 theaters. The result was $8 million, slightly better than the studio’s release of Coiro’s last rom-com feature, 2022’s Marry Me with Anaconda co-stars Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson. It opened to $7.9 million and finished with $22.4 million despite also being available on Peacock at the same time.
Tuscany has maintained a reasonable score with critics (68%), while Marry Me managed to just eke out a Fresh one (61%). In the post-pandemic world of streaming, the only films of Tuscany’s type to draw a sizable audience have been Anyone But You ($88.3 million) and Ticket to Paradise ($68.2 million), the latter also released by Universal. The studio’s Colleen Hoover adaptation of Reminders of Him looks like it will come up shy of $50 million, just as last fall’s Regretting You did. An additional $1 million this weekend gives it a domestic total of $47.4 million. It is over $80 million worldwide. Regretting You made $90.4 million globally.
Disney/Pixar’s Hoppers added $4.1 million to its domestic haul, which is now just over $157 million. That passes 2024’s release of Elemental, though it is still well shy of that film’s $496 million global take. It currently stands at $354 million and close to profit. 2017’s The Boss Baby, one of the last non-sequelized animated films to gross as much domestically, had a similar 38-day haul of $156.5 million but made $5.9 million in its sixth weekend. Hoppers has trailed off harder in part thanks to Mario Galaxy and may be looking at a $160-165 million final gross in North America.
Those from a certain generation will remember the VHS phenomenon of Faces of Death, which purported to show real deaths of humans and animals from various gruesome means including, infamously, the electric chair. Well, now it’s a new film utilizing that IP from the director of Cam and How to Blow Up a Pipeline. IFC just had its fourth-best opening ever with it in 1,600 theaters, grossing $1.7 million. That puts it just behind Late Night with the Devil ($2.83 million), last year’s Good Boy ($2.34 million), and In a Violent Nature ($2.15 million). It is their sixth film to open over a million dollars and just their 10th film to open in over 1,000 theaters. Right behind it was the video game adaptation Exit 8, which Neon released in just 495 theaters, and it grossed $1.4 million. Guess more people were into to that bit of IP. Neon’s release of Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers with Ian McKellen also grossed $80,000 in just four theaters.
Rounding out the top 10, we have Roadside’s release of A Great Awakening with $1.2 million to bring its total to $4.8 million. This is their highest-grossing release since The Last Showgirl at the end of 2024, which made $4.73 million, and 2021’s The Courier, which finished in the heart of the pandemic in March that year with $6.57 million. Finally, in the middle of it all, the BTS World Tour ‘Arirang’ in Goyang had a live viewing in 1,189 theaters Saturday night, and it grossed enough in one night ($2.44 million) to finish sixth on the list this week.
On the Vine: A Little Something for Everyone
More horror next week as the director of Evil Dead Rise brings his possessive title, Lee Cronin’s The Mummy, from Warner Bros., which is not coming off a great release for They Will Kill You. In limited release, look for David Lowery’s latest, Mother Mary, with Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel. Then, we also have the documentary about Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, aptly title Lorne. And speaking of which, former SNL writer Bob Odenkirk stars in Normal from Ben Wheatley. And lastly, Janus Films also releases the family drama Blue Heron, which currently boasts a 100% on the Tomatometer based on 22 reviews.
Full List of Box Office Results: April 10-12, 2026
- The Super Mario Galaxy Movie – $69.0 million ($308.1 million total)
- Project Hail Mary – $24.5 million ($256.6 million total)
- The Drama – $8.7 million ($30.8 million total)
- You, Me & Tuscany – $8.0 million ($8.0 million total)
- Hoppers – $4.1 million ($157.1 million total)
- BTS World Tour ‘Arirang’ in Goyang: Live Viewing – $2.4 million ($2.4 million total)
- Faces of Death – $1.8 million ($1.8 million total)
- Exit 8 – $1.4 million ($1.4 million total)
- A Great Awakening – $1.2 million ($4.8 million total)
- Reminders of Him – $1.0 million ($47.4 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast. [box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by ©Universal Pictures